“Hiding?” I ask, and Robert subtly glances at Francois, and I nod in complete understanding.
“Alexandria, why are you here?” Francois calls out, and I chuckle, grabbing Matt’s hand and yanking him along with me toward Nate’s studio.
Matt leans in and clears his throat. “You chosethatguy for my brother… were you drunk or something?”
I shake my head. “I went on qualifications, not personality. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have never left in the first place.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and nods. “Agreed.Neverleave again.”
I look up at him and smile. “Never.”
When we walk into the studio, Nate is painting and wearing headphones.
He never paints with headphones on.
I furrow my brows and huff. Obviously, Francois is completely and utterly annoying. I’ve really fucked this up. Well, I’m about to make up for it now. I step up behind Nate, grab a headphone, pull it back from his ear, and let it snap back into place, causing his paintbrush to swipe over his canvas, smearing paint all over the white material. Luckily, he was only starting, so it hasn’t ruined his artwork. His head snaps around like he’s rearing and ready to yell obscenities, but he spots me and his eyes flash open in shock. He grabs his headphones, yanks them off, stands from his stool, and takes a deep breath.
“Alex? Wait… and Matt… in the same room? And you’renoton a plane to Paris?” he asks in quick succession.
We both chuckle, and I shake my head, reaching out for Matt’s hand. “Nope, no plane, no Paris. Just me, Matt, and you… one big happy unconventional family… if you’ll have me back, that is?”
He lets out a long, drawn-out sigh and slumps his body like it’s the best news he’s heard all day. “Fuck, I swear if I had to listen to Francois for another second babble on about… well,fucking anything, I was going to sell this place.” He swipes his hand through his hair. “Alex, don’t leave,ever!I’ll tie you up if I have to.”
I glance at Matt subtly, thinking about last night when he actually did tie me up. He must be thinking about the same thing because he shifts slightly and grins widely, moving his hand down to rest on my ass.
“Well, I need to see if I can keep my apartment. I told them I was moving out, so I’m not sure if they have rented it out yet. So if I can have today to sort my shit out, I can come back tomorrow, and then be completely at your disposal. To do with as you see fit.”
“I have an idea to help with the rental side of things. Leave that with me,” Matt says as I eye him suspiciously.
“Take however much time you need, just as long as you come back to me. Fuck! I’m so glad you two sorted your shit out. You have,haven’t you?”Nate asks.
I look up to Matt and grin. “We have. Turns out, I kinda love your jackass of a brother.”
Matt chuckles. “Turns out I kinda love this crazy, perfect woman, too.”
Nate exhales deeply and wraps his arms around us, pulling us into a group hug. “Well, thank fuck for that. You guys needed to pull your heads out of your asses, seriously. You were almost as bad as Ria and me.”
Matt and I let out a loud laugh, and I roll my eyes. “Yeah, well, at least we’re all on the right track now.”
“Absolutely. Oh, by the way, I spoke to Tillie this morning, Matt. She wanted me to talk to you about Charlie.”
Matt tenses up, and I furrow my brows, cocking my head at him.
“Charlie?” I ask.
He exhales. “Charlotte, the April lookalike fromLovepessimist. Fuck! That’s a story I need to discuss with you.”
My body tenses, and I nod.
Nate smiles and shakes his head. “No, it’s all good, Matt. Don’t worry. Tillie said that Charlie called her and told her about what happened. That you said to talk to Tillie about the story for Rolling Stone Magazine.”
Matt nods. “Yeah, so did Tillie go for it?”
Nate grins widely. “Better. She told Charlie that the band is going to be suing her for illegally obtaining the information. That if any of the information gathered while with you is released to the public, Tillie will do everything in her power to discredit Charlie as a reporter. Tillie said she’d ruin Charlie’s career. Tillie went full badass on her. It was fucking epic. She took her down, Matt. Nothing will be printed, and you’ll receive damages once it all goes through.”
I furrow my brow, obviously knowing there’s way more to the story that I’m missing. I really want to know what happened, but it can wait until we get home.
“Holy shit, that’s amazing. I have to buy Tillie something. She really is a little powerhouse, that woman,” Matt says, and I chuckle.
